My Life In Ruins

27. I Hope You Speak Spanish. If Not, You're Screwed

Chapter 27

I Hope You Speak Spanish. If Not, You’re Screwed

We didn’t go to have a good look at the map or the journal until we got to the place we were staying the night.  It was this little seaside inn in the next town over with a view of the ocean.  Well, we really couldn’t see the ocean since it was dark, but whatever.

We’d gotten on room with a bedroom and a pull out couch, which Max and I would most likely be sharing.  The only bad thing about that was that Dad and Brielle would be walking out of their room the next morning to find us.  We would most likely be all wrapped up in each other like we’d been whenever we slept in the same bed before. 

When we settled into our room, we all crowded around the table in front of the couch, the journal, the map, and Dad’s laptop in front of us.  The first thing that we looked at was the map. 

“It doesn’t say anything about where this actually is,” Brielle said, looking over it. 

We continued looking over the map as Max took the journal and started flipping through the pages before and after where we found it. 

“There’s really nothing in here where it is, either,” he said.  “Is there anything online we can look at?  I mean, we know is has to do something with the Aztecs since there was Aztec gold found, right?”

Dad nodded as he suddenly stood up and strode over to where he put his computer bag.  Digging around in it for a moment, he pulled out his small, portable document scanner and plugged it into his computer.  He took the map into his hands and carefully put it through.  Just a moment later, it appeared on the screen.

“There,” he said, making the picture bigger.  He clicked the internet icon and pulled up the web browser.  “The Aztec’s city Tenochtitlan was built on an island in the middle of Lake Texcoco.”

“But wasn’t Mexico City built over the basin of the lake?  They had to drain it, so it’s not there anymore,” I said.

Dad nodded, pulling up a picture of a map of Mexico City.  “If I can just combine the two maps, putting Blackbeard’s on top of the other and positioning it just right…”

He toyed around with the two pictures for a moment.  And after just getting the drawing of Blackbeard’s map transparent, he overlapped the two.

And it was a perfect fit. 

Well, if Mexico City wasn’t there today.

“There we go,” he said, smiling, turning the laptop more towards us so we could see better.  “It’s Mexico City.”

“But where in Mexico City?” Max asked. 

I put my finger close to the screen following the lines on Blackbeard’s map.  Most of them were running straight through the city.  “Most of the landmarks he’s got written on here are more than likely gone,” I said.  “But where the X is…that’s definitely there.”  I pointed toward the mountain range.  “It’s right in the middle of the Sierra de Guadalupe Mountains.”

Once I said the words, Dad was immediately on his phone, no doubt calling to get tickets to fly to Mexico City the next day.  I didn’t mind that we were leaving Spain at all.

Because we were on the last leg of our journey.

Later that night after I’d taken a shower, I put on my pajamas and ran a towel through my hair before stepping out into Dad and Brielle’s room.  There was only one bathroom, which was in their room.